Count Your Blessings
by Raychellisme
Summary: A heated discussion, the Northern Lights, then Sandy's unconscious. The Man in the Moon has yet another task for the Guardians. A new immortal is arriving. No one knows who or what yet: That's up to the Guardians to decide. But when Jack finds a worthy candidate, could it be he's too attached to condemn her to the life she doesn't want, but is destined to live?
1. Chapter 1

Authors Note: I use both names: Bunnymund and Aster. I feel like Toothiana is too obnoxious for my taste, so she'll be referred to as Tooth. I hope you don't mind. Enjoy!

Sand, golden sand. That was pretty much all to the Sandman's humble abode. Clouds and clouds of sand, which were cushioning Jack Frost as he had a rather heated debate about whether or not someone lived inside of the sun, too. "I'm telling you, Sandy. The moon isn't the only place carrying someone, it can't be!" The sandman crossed his arms and frowned. A thick shiny 'X' formed above his head. "Right, well if there's no one in the moon, how do you explain all of my snow melting so quickly, at the worst possible times?" The Sandman smiled, shaking his head. Though his beam turned into a frown when Jack's face was illuminated by lights of pink, green, and white color.

"Something wro-" The guardian of fun stopped mid-sentence and stared at the Northern lights dancing across the contrasting morning sky. The lights would've been relaxing if the meaning behind it wasn't so urgent. Sandy motioned his hands upward and the dust followed: crafting a boat, to Sandy's delight. He grabbed the sailing mast and nodded to Jack. In reply, Jack winked. "See you there." Jack allowed the wind to carry him off.

Jack's P.O.V

Jack shoved open one of the vertical windows outlining the famed toy factory. Beating the momentum and not slamming against it. The four other guardians turned towards him as Winter himself spilled into North's home. Jack lifted his head to see Tooth, North, Bunnymund, and to his dismay, the Sandman standing before him. It was amusing for his head, but a slam to his ego to see the guardian of dreams arrive before him. It was an ongoing race between those two. "I'll bet you next time, pal." he assured, sending a gust of wind towards the Sandman, knocking him off his stubby legs. Jack chuckled, and dodged the predictable ball of sand that came whistling towards him in response.

"Right!" North exclaimed, clapping his hands once for emphasis. "You're all here now." The guardians stepped towards the brass model of Earth, twinkling lights still strong and pure. "What's this about, anyways?" Bunnymund questioned, clearly flustered. Disrupted just days after Easter, the poor thing. Jack suppressed a grin.

"It wasn't me." North informed, Russian accent dripping from every sentence he offered. "I didn't call you here. The Man in Moon did." Subconsciously they all glanced up and saw nothing but ceiling, and a ceiling window of sunrise. "Well that's great. Look at the product of the Man in the Moon's last get together. Can you imagine what's next?" he gestured towards Jack who had attempted to balance at the upright end of his staff and had toppled over in an unnoticed heap. "Hey!" Jack said.  
"Er, guys." Tooth began, sounding startled. "Not now, Tooth." said North. "We're brainstorming." Aster paced the room, tossing one of his painted eggs back and forth. North sat baffled in one of many leather chairs, his hand on his chin; paying no attention to Tooth's calls. Jack rocked on the balls of his bare feet, stealing quick glances at the window. Still no sign of the moon.

"For goodness sake, Guardians, pay attention!" Tooth slammed her foot against the ground which caused a louder thud than expected. The three of them looked up to find an unconscious Sandman on the carpet. "Sandy?" Bunnymund whispered, advancing towards the sleeping pile. "You don't think-" Tooth began. "No way." Aster implored. "But could it be?" North questioned. Jack's eyes dashed to each of his comrades as they spoke. "Wait, what's going on?" he asked, feeling slightly useless at the moment.

"It's happened once before, the first time we had to defeat Pitch: the Man in the Moon spoke to me." North jerked a thick thumb towards himself, revealing his 'Naughty' tattoo, "through a dream."  
"Could it be that urgent?" The tooth fairy started to fly in little circles, the faint buzzing of her wings growing constantly louder. "Okay, calm down. He'll snap out of it." Jack soothed.

Tooth's P.O.V

Two hours later, the Sandman was awake, a velvet blanket draped over him. Rapid signs were moving across his head. A bow and arrow, a globe similar to the one standing in the room, a large 'X', then what looked to be a ribbon. "Sandy, are you sure?" Tooth asked, seeming to be the only who followed. She turned to face her bewildered friends. "He says he was told there will be a new immortal." Gasps filled the room. The tooth fairy heaved a deep breath, then continued on. "There's no telling who the immortal will be, nor who they will turn into. All the information the Man in the Moon has offered is that it won't be an easy case. Not at all."

Authors Note: It's me again! I really hope you liked it. It'll get more interesting, I promise. Beginnings are always the hardest for me. Reviews are very much appreciated. And if you have a request, I do take them into consideration. Thanks a bunch for reading. New chapters daily! With love, Scout. xx 


	2. Chapter 2

Declan's P.O.V "I can't help thinking it's my fault." began Declan Stock's diary entry. She twisted her pen through her fingers. Keeping an accurate note of her entire life was the easy part. Figuring out how to pen it all done was tricky. Declan bit her lip. After the big accident, she didn't feel like writing much anymore: everything was sort of... well, numb.  
"I'm sorry I let you down, mom." The shabby old journal was slammed shut, then hurled across the room. What if it really was all her fault?

North's P.O.V North sat impatient as Jack struggled to follow the situation as precisely as the others. "Wait, so one more time through, North." The guardian of wonder exhaled a quick burst of air. "If you happen to come across anyone," he paused. "Anyone at all, who might be suitable enough to be an immortal, take them here." Jack processed this for a moment. "Fine, I'm good with all this." he reassured. "I'll go search now!" The winter spirit made a movement towards the window, but North immediately stopped him. "No!" Without thinking, he slammed Jack against the closest wall. "You may not, scratch that, you will not go looking for anyone. It can't work like that. Don't go looking for a possible immortal, never! Understand, boy?"

"Why no-" North adopted an even more menacing tone. "Do you understand?" he implied again. Jack studied his fellow guardian. "Er, yeah, I understand."

Jack's P.O.V Soon enough, Jack Frost was back in the open sky: traveling to a place very dear to him. The small town of Burgess. He enjoyed plopping down on the tree branches: just watching people pass by, sometimes he'd even bring one of his famous snow days with him. Might as well bring a little happiness to the otherwise fairly dull town.

Jack decided to swing by Highland Park: this park practically raised him, and every now and then Jack liked to repay the old park for it's deeds. A large tree covered in healthy, green leaves blanketed with sheets of snow stood in the middle of the park. He sat on a low hanging branch, it didn't look like it would hold for long: but Jack knew this place well enough to know that it was reliable enough. Hours went by with no fascinating events, and he decided to go off exploring.

"No use in sitting around right? I think I'll just go off looking for, um, no one in particular." Okay, maybe he was wrong to perform the actual action, but his intentions were good. And that made everything less wrong... right?

He flew around for a while, no one made any weird faces towards the sky, so clearly no one believed in him here. That's when he spotted her. Beautiful messy brown hair, sparkling green eyes, and tacky combat boots. But what really caught his eye was the cheap snow globe she was clutching so dearly. Inside it was what looked to be a snowman: smiling face, button eyes, and a plastic carrot nose. She shoved it into her backpack at the sound of the howling wind. "Hello, miss." Jack muttered to himself. The twinkle in her eyes, despite the frown across her face made this one seem perfect for the job. What could go wrong?

Declan's P.O.V If there was anywhere else Declan could go to get away from all the fuss of her mother's death, it was Burgess. And if somewhere else needed her right now, well they would just have to wait. Declan closed her eyes and walked along with the crunch of chilled powder under her feet.

Jack's P.O.V "Non-believer, probably." Jack wouldn't let himself get disheartened. "I wonder if she can ice skate." he almost laughed, extending his staff and watching a sheet of ice start to form in front of her and end at the entrance to the park. He watched in horror as she slipped forward on the ice and landed with a thud, slamming her head against the ground. "Not good." Jack stated, sending a gust of wind to pick her up: which only caused her to fall backwards while attempting to stand and hit her head once again. "Oh, for crying out loud!" he flew to her. "Are you alright?"

Declan's P.O.V "Are you alright?" two voices rang out. Declan sat up, meeting eyes with a boy with shaggy red hair and contrasting blue eyes. "I still remember my name, so I think I'll be just fine." she joked, standing upright with the assistance of the stranger. "Thank you." she granted. The boy just smiled. "Oh sorry!" she realized. "I'm being rude. My name's Declan."

"Robin, at your service." he replied. "You took quite a fall there." Declan grinned sheepishly. "Well yeah, I just slipped on some ice." Robin beamed. "Then you've got to be new here! I can always show you around if you'd like! Where are you going to school at?" How embarrassing. If she knew anything she was going to do anytime soon, she'd be lucky. "I.. don't really know." she answered honestly, feeling her cheeks grow hot.

"Ah, no worries." Robin assured. "I'll see you around." he gave a little wave and stalked off.

Jack's P.O.V "North! North! North! North!" shouted Jack all the way to the North Pole. He entered sprinting, ducking under the awfully intimidating yetis and running into Santa Claus himself. "North!" Jack began breathlessly. "I met the most amazing girl," North opened his mouth to speak, but Jack held up his hand. "By chance. And she's perfect for the job." Half a lie, half the truth.  
"Well, that's great. How'd you get her to believe in you?"

If Jack were to lose heart in the situation, now was the time. "Huh?" North adopted a look of sympathy. "This girl can be as amazing as the Man in the Moon himself," they subconsciously looked upwards, "but if she doesn't believe, there's no way she can be an immortal! Did you really expect to-" North stopped after getting a look at Jack's painfully disappointed face.

"That didn't really cross my mind." he murmured, dropping his gaze to the floor. "Makes sense, I s'pose." Before North could say anything more, Jack was off: at a time like this, he decided to test his newly found friendship and seek advice. So it was off to the Warren.

Declan's P.O.V How she hated walking home alone after nightfall. Was it strange she always felt a pair of eyes on her, waiting for just the right time? Because of this, Declan took care not to trip over any cracks in the sidewalk, or lose something blocks away from home, especially not like the time in 6th grade when she lost two of her school textbooks: no! There was no time for any of that. Her main focus was reaching home in one piece.

Everything was going perfectly fine until a strange silence fell into place. The sweet 8pm air was replaced with emptiness, she began to suffocate. After no luck heaving a big sigh and pinching herself twice to hopefully wake, Declan frantically turned around: only to be greeted by a creepy silhouette that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

The shadow reached out for her and she swiftly dodged it, flinging her tie dye backpack at it. The figure merely took a sidestep to the left: and grabbed Declan's writhing body. It was into the darkness she went.

Author's Note: Better than chapter 1? I hope so. Thanks for reading the whole of it. I'm fairly good at heartbreak and surprises so if you happen to come across one, don't be too stunned. ;) Reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks! With love, Scout. xx 


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